MULTI-SEGMENT MODULAR STENT AND METHODS FOR MANUFACTURING STENTS

摘要

A modular stent (70) having at least one stent module including an intermediate segment consisting of one of either a closed-cell segment (78c) or a Z-segment (82z) and a pair of end segments connected to respective longitudinal ends of said intermediate segment, each end segment consisting of the other of said closed-cell segment (78c) or Z-segment (82z), each said closed-cell segment (78c) consisting solely of at least one annular closed-cell ring (80c) and each Z-segment consisting solely of at least one annular ring. A method of manufacturing a stent from a small diameter tube to includes laser-cutting the small diameter tube to define a plurality of longitudinally adjacent Z-rings, expanding the small diameter tube, and removing predetermined interconnector portions from the expanded tube to provide the predetermined desired arrangement of interconnected closed-cell rings and Z-rings.